The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system for detecting contaminants (e.g., fog and/or dust) in an intake flow of a compressor such as a gas turbine compressor.
In general, gas turbine engines combust a mixture of compressed air and fuel to produce hot combustion gases. The combustion gases may flow through a turbine to generate power for a load and/or a compressor. As will be appreciated, contaminants (e.g., fog and/or dust conditions) at the gas turbine inlet may adversely affect a filtration system located within the gas turbine inlet upstream of the compressor. In particular, fog and/or dust conditions may result in excessive pressure loss within the gas turbine system, thus, impacting system performance. Typically, fog and/or dust conditions may be only visually identified at the gas turbine inlet or predicted based on a historical basis. Thus, in order to combat the fog and/or dust conditions, the gas turbine inlets may be fitted full time with coalescers. However, the full time fitment of coalescers adversely impacts the differential pressure within the gas turbine inlet. In addition, the full time fitment of coalescers involves additional maintenance requirements and increases operational costs.